Hereat the king waxed wroth and cried, “Fetch him hither;” and bade the headsman strike off his head.  So they brought the youth and bound his eyes; and the sworder stood at his head and said to the king, “By thy leave, O my lord, I will smite his neck.”  But the king cried, “Stay, till I look into his affair.  Needs must I put him to death and the dispatching of him will not escape me.”  Then he restored him to the prison and there he abode till it should be the king’s will to do him die.  Presently, his parents heard of the matter; whereupon his father arose and going up to the palace, wrote a letter and presented it to the king, who read it, and behold, therein was written, saying, “Have ruth on me, so may Allah have ruth on thee, and hasten not in the slaughter of my son; for indeed I acted hastily in a certain affair and drowned his brother in the sea, and to this day I bemourn him.  An thou must needs kill him, kill me in his stead.”  Therewith the old merchant, weeping bitterly, prostrated himself before the king, who said to him, “Tell me thy tale.”  Said the merchant, “O my lord, this youth had a brother and I in my haste cast the twain into the sea.”  And he related to him his story, first and last, whereupon the king cried with a mighty loud cry and casting himself down from the throne, embraced his father and brother and said to the merchant, “By Allah, thou art my very father and this is my brother and thy wife is our mother.”  And they abode weeping, all three of them.  Then the king acquainted his people with the matter and said to them, “O folk, how deem ye of my looking to the consequences of action?” and they all marvelled at his wisdom and foresight.  Then he turned to his sire and said to him, “Hadst thou looked to the issue of thine affair and made due delay in whatso thou didst, there had not betided thee this repentance and chagrin all this time.”  Thereupon he sent for his mother and they rejoiced one in other and lived all their days in joy and gladness.  “What then” (continued the young treasurer), “is more grievous than the lack of looking to the ends of things?  Wherefore hasten thou not in the slaying of me, lest penitence betide thee and sore chagrin.”  When the king heard this, he said, “Return him to the prison till the morrow, so we may look into his affair; for that deliberation in such is advisable and the slaughter of this youth shall not escape us.”

The Third Day.

Of the Advantages of Patience.[FN#164]

When it was the third day, the third Wazir came in to the king and said to him, “O king, delay not the matter of this youth, because his deed hath caused us fall into the mouths of folk, and it behoveth that thou slay him forthright, that the talk may be cut from us and it be not said, ’The king saw on his bed a man with his wife and spared him.’” The king was chagrined by these words and bade bring the youth.  Accordingly, they fetched him in fetters, and indeed the king’s anger was upstirred against